Engineers Overpower Yellow Jackets in Four-Set Defeat

DEFIANCE, Ohio – The Defiance College volleyball team entered Sunday tied for third place in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference standings with Rose-Hulman. The two squads faced off on Sunday afternoon in a pivotal match. Unfortunately, the Jackets were defeated by the Fightin' Engineers in four sets by scores of 17-25, 25-22, 25-13, 25-12.

The Yellow Jackets got out to a nearly flawless start in the opening set. The Purple and Gold grabbed the first by a score of 25-17, while racking up 14 kills and only one attack error on 27 attempts for an attacking percentage of .481. Defiance's powerful attacking trio of Alexis Pierce, Bree Anderson and Chelsea Ludeman combined for all 14 kills, with Pierce leading the way with seven followed by Anderson with four and Ludeman adding three.

The second set was a back-and-forth battle between the two sides, as there were seven ties and three lead changes throughout the set. With the match tied at 22-22, the Engineers scored three-straight points to level the match at one set apiece.

After the second set, things fell apart for the Purple and Gold. Rose-Hulman outscored the Jackets by a combined 50-25 in the final two frames taking set three 25-13 and set four 25-12.

The loss drops Defiance's overall record to 16-12 and its HCAC mark to 5-3.

The Jackets' final regular season match is on Wednesday, October 24 at 7:00 p.m. for a showdown against HCAC rival Bluffton. The winner will most likely wrap up the four-seed in the conference tournament and get to host a first round match in the tourney. The match is also senior night.